Coed and Women's Sailing Teams Host Alumni Event

Zach Brown and Marla Menninger.

May 28, 2009

May 28, 2009

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -
The Bulldog coed and women's sailing teams enjoyed a strong alumni turnout at the annual Chris Murphy Alumni Regatta hosted by the teams on Saturday, May 16 at the McNay Family Sailing Center. The event had high participation, with 18 boats competing in the regatta. As well, a number of alumni also attended the event but did not race. The regatta was won by Zachary Brown '08 and Abigail Coplin '08.

Racing was very competitive at the event, with 18 strong teams competing, even larger than last year's participation of 17 teams. Racing in the event were a number of alumni-only boats, student-only boats, and mixed alumni and current student-athlete combinations. The regatta included two sessions of racing, one in the morning in light-to-moderate wind, followed by a catered lunch, and then another session in the afternoon with moderate winds from the east.

The event, which included both a catered lunch and dinner, was a good opportunity for alumni to reconnect with the current members of the coed and women's sailing teams. While a number of the alumni were teammates with some of the current sailors, for other alumni, the Chris Murphy Alumni Regatta was the first opportunity to meet members of the current team and get back in competition. The event is named in honor of Chris Murphy, a former captain of the Yale Sailing Team that perished in the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

Brown and Coplin ran away with the overall regatta title this year, scoring 37 points over the 10 races. With the exception of an over-early race, the duo only finished outside the top three once. They won half of the races. Last year, as an undergraduate, Brown also won the overall regatta, but was ineligible for the overall title as only graduate skippers are eligible. Matthew Barry '07 and Kate Littlefield '04 were second this year with 45 points after placing seventh last year. Their tally last year included two races in which they did not compete, which hurt their scores. Rounding out the top three was Kendra Emhiser '07 with 53 points. The top undergraduate boat this year was Caleb Dorfman with crews John Kempton, Adriane Levin and Joseph Morris. They took fifth with 60 points. Last year, the top three spots were all captured by boats ineligible for the overall title because they were skippered by undergraduates, so the graduate ranks at the event were much improved.

The coed sailing team will next host the Harry Anderson Intersectional on Sep. 12-13 at the McNay Family Sailing Center.